Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both attend New York 9/11 commemoration

Bereaved families, local and national dignitaries, and first responders gathered in New York City on Wednesday to mark the 23rd anniversary of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US that killed almost 3,000 people.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both attended the annual commemoration, just hours after their fiery presidential debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.

Joe Biden, the US president, accompanied Harris, his vice-president and now the Democratic nominee for president in this November’s election since Biden ended his re-election campaign in July after his own disastrous debate against Trump.

Biden and Harris observed the anniversary of the al-Qaida attacks on the US with visits planned to each of the three sites where hijacked planes crashed in 2001: the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon near Washington DC and a field in Pennsylvania.

Trump attended the event in New York with his Republican running mate, JD Vance. Trump and Harris shook hands, with tight smiles, before lining up solemnly for the ceremony.

Although the September 11 commemorations are serious and poignant events and studiously nonpartisan, every election cycle adds tension to the occasion and there were many eyes on Harris and Trump on Wednesday to see if and how they might interact.

On Tuesday night, Harris had consciously crossed the stage before the debate began and thrust her hand towards Trump, introducing herself as they had never met in person before, obliging Trump to shake hands.

After the subsequent handshake at the memorial and a brief exchange between the two presidential candidates, Harris positioned herself to Biden’s right, with the former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg between Biden and Trump, and Vance to Trump’s left.

Missing from that central group was the sitting New York mayor, Eric Adams, whose administration is caught up in federal investigations.

Harris traveled to New York just a few hours after most polling declared her the winner of the debate against the Republican nominee for president in Philadelphia, with just eight weeks left before the 5 November presidential election.

No remarks from the politicians were scheduled at the site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, still sometimes popularly known as Ground Zero, where relatives read the names of those who died.

Biden and Harris then planned to fly to Shanksville, where passengers on United Flight 93 overcame the hijackers and the plane crashed in a field, preventing another target from being hit. Then they will head back to the Washington area to visit the Pentagon memorial.

Almost 3,000 people were killed in the attack, with more than 2,750 killed in New York, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 in Shanksville; that figure excludes the 13 terrorist hijackers, who also died.

“We can only imagine the heartbreak and the pain that the 9/11 families and survivors have felt every day for the past 23 years and we will always remember and honor those who were stolen from us way too soon,” the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters onboard Air Force One on Tuesday evening.

“We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that an attack like this never happens again,” she said.

Biden issued a proclamation honoring those who died as a result of the attacks, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Americans who volunteered for military service afterwards.

“We owe these patriots of the 9/11 generation a debt of gratitude that we can never fully repay,” Biden said, citing deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq and other war zones, as well as the capture and killing of the September 11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden, and his deputy.

US congressional leaders on Tuesday posthumously awarded the congressional gold medal to 13 of those service members who were killed in the 26 August 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul’s airport during the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In New York, political tensions were high even though the event is always officially a non-partisan commemoration.

“You’re around the people that are feeling the grief, feeling proud or sad – what it’s all about that day, and what these loved ones meant to you. It’s not political,” said Melissa Tarasiewicz, who lost her father, a New York City firefighter, Allan Tarasiewicz.

Increasingly, tributes delivered in New York and the name-reading of those who died come from children and young adults who were born after the attacks killed a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle.

“Even though I never got to meet you, I feel like I’ve known you forever,” Annabella Sanchez said last year of her grandfather, Edward Joseph Papa. “We will always remember and honor you, every day. “We love you, Grandpa Eddie.”

A poignant phrase echoes more and more from those who lost relatives: “I never got to meet you.”

It is the sound of generational change. Some names are read out by children or young adults who were born after the strikes. Last year’s observance featured 28 such young people among more than 140 readers. Young people were expected again at this year’s ceremony on Wednesday.

Some are the children of victims whose partners were pregnant. More of the young readers are victims’ nieces, nephews or grandchildren. They have inherited stories, photos and a sense of solemn responsibility.

Being a “9/11 family” reverberates through generations, and commemorating and understanding the September 11 attacks one day will be up to a world with no first-hand memory of them.

“It’s like you’re passing the torch on,” says Allan Aldycki, 13. He read the names of his grandfather, Allan Tarasiewicz, and several other people.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting